After finishing a solid third in the $1.5 million Pepsi North America Cup, trainer Bob Young felt Piece Of The Rock was worthy of some time away from the track
. Well that vacation is officially over for the son of Rocknroll Hanover, who was back to work on Saturday at Georgian Downs where he was an impressive winner in preparation for a number of upcoming stakes events.
“I was real happy with the way he raced on Saturday,” trainer Bob Young told Trot Insider when asked about Piece Of The Rock’s gate-to-wire score in 1:52.1 at the Innisfil oval. “He hadn’t raced in five weeks since his last start in the North America Cup; he had a really easy month. Our gameplan was not to race him in the Meadowlands Pace or in the Adios. I figured, he’s going to have 10 starts after the North America Cup and he’s going to need a break.”
“He schooled real well on Tuesday [July 27] for Paul [driver Paul MacDonell], and we entered him for Mohawk for a three-year-old Open but it didn’t fill,” Young added. “So then I went to Georgian Downs and put Scott [Bob’s son, Scott Young] on him and it was a good race. He needed that race to get tight again, and I was very happy with him. It was a good opening quarter and a good last quarter.”
After getting freshened up, Piece Of The Rock will have to get real serious again as he prepares to embark on a trip back to New Jersey where he’ll take on the best in the division on Hambletonian Day.
“He goes to the Meadowlands on Saturday for the Oliver Wendell Holmes, and then we’re probably going to go to a New Jersey Sires Stakes at Freehold because he’s never been on a half and I’d like to race him on a half once before Delaware,” added Young who shares ownership on the career winner of $281.669 with partners Jamie Trott, Brian Barton and Frank Aloise. “After that he has the Battle of Brandywine and then it’s a two-week break to the Simcoe and then twelve days to the Jug.”
One race that isn’t on the pacer’s dance card is the Confederation Cup, which goes Sunday, August 15 at nearby Flamboro Downs. It was a race that simply wasn’t on Young’s radar.
“I never made the payment because I didn’t want to go two heats in August; that was something I just didn’t want to do,” claimed Young. “I thought there would be two heats even before it was announced that Sportswriter was done for the year. I thought there would be two heats and I just didn’t want to go two heats this early in the year.”
Many people were shocked with just how good Piece Of The Rock performed en route to finishing third from Post 10 as a 98-1 outsider in the North America Cup, but after that effort the colt proved he can’t be taken lightly. That’s something Young has been a believer in for quite some time.
“I’ve always like this horse; he’s great-gaited and he’s always been sound,” Young added. “He just needed to go to the Meadowlands to get woke up and to learn how to race. He’s a typical Rocknroll Hanover – if he can get away without working too hard, he won’t. He’s grown with this month off, and I let his hopples out the other night for Georgian Downs. He came in from schooling on Tuesday and he had a few burn marks on him – so they’re out to 59 inches now and he’s so good-gaited I think I’m just going to leave them there for the rest of the year.”